Display stand



July 4, 1961 E. M. LEVY DISPLAY STAND Filed on. 19, 1959 INVENTOR.EDWARD M. Law

BY Q 6M 4 Hi-7: 95-

Uni ed S es Patent 2,991,040 DISPLAY STAND Edward M..Levy, 'Evanston,11]., assignor to Reflector- Hardware Corporation, Melrose Park, 11]., acorporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 19, 1959, Ser. No. 847,376 1 Claim.(Cl. 248-356) This invention relates to equipment that is especiallyuseful in supporting and presenting merchandise displays and it relatesmore particularly to a display standard which comprises a part of suchequipment.

The owners and managers of most modern retail stores are aware of thefact that the volume of sales of the various individual items in theirinventories usually can be increased materially when such items ofmerchandise are displayed to their greatest advantage. However, becauseof the' great variety of items handled by retail establishments, many ofthem, and particularly the smaller ones, have not been able in the pastto purchase themany types of special display stands, racks and shelvesthat have been necessary to present the different kinds 'of merchandisein the most attractive manner. This is particularly true since suchstands, racks and shelves have been heretofore of a more or less fixedor permanent nature, and in many instances have been custom built andvirtually incapable of modification and ready assembly and disassemblyto facilitate movement thereof from one location to another.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a standardwhich may be used individually as a support for shelves, pegboards,partitions, brackets, etc., in a piece of display equipment or which maybe used in conjunction with a plurality of similar standards forsupporting shelves and the like; and in which the standard is anchored,in use, between the floor and ceiling of a room, yet is quickly andeasily movable from one location to another.

Still another object is that of providing a display standard of thecharacter described which is longitudinally adjustable and, therefore,able to accommodate widely different ceiling heights and which may beadjusted, set up and removed quickly and easily and without the need ofspecial tools and skills.

A further object of the invention is in the provision of a displaystandard having the characteristics set forth and which isself-anchoring between the floor and ceiling The invention, both as toits organization and method of operation, together with further objectsand advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to thefollowing specification taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in'which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of display equipment embodying theinvention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the display standardscomprising a part of the equipment illustrated in FIGURE 1;

1 FIGURE 3 is a further enlarged, broken, vertical sectional viewof theupper end portion of the display standand shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of-FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a broken, vertical sectional view of a portion of thestructure shown in FIGURE 3 and illustrates the support pin in detail;

FIGURE 6 is a transverse sectional view taken along the line 6- 6 ofFIGURE 5; and

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged broken vertical sectional view of a portion of adisplay standard illustrating the manner of connecting the shelf supportbrackets thereto.

The display standard which comprises the present invention is shown inFIGURE 1 as a component of display equipment that includes three suchstandards which are used for supporting a plurality of vertically spacedshelves and a hang rod which may be employed for hanging suits, dressesand the like thereon. In FIGURE 1 the horizontally disposed, verticallyspaced shelves are denoted with the numeral 10, and in the specificillustration all project laterally from one side of the parallel displaystandards 11. Extending laterally from the opposite side of thestandards 11 is a hang rod 10a supporting a suit 10b thereon.

Each of the display standards 11 includes a lower hollow standardsection 1111 that may have various cross sectional configurations,including the generally rectangular or square shape illustrated.Telescopically received within the standard section 11a is an upperstandard 12 movable longitudinally with respect thereto. The lower endportion of the section 11a is provided with a base 13 in the form of asquare-shaped enlargement which is adapted to engage and be supported bya floor surface, as shown in FIGURE ,1. The upper end of the standardsection 12 is provided with alaterally extending plate 14 which may becylindrical, as shown, and preferably the plate'14has a resilient pad 15secured to the upper sur-,

face thereof. The pad 15 may be formed of rubber, plastic, or similarmaterial, and protects the ceiling surface engaged thereby from beingmarred or otherwise dam-aged by the standard. If desired, the ceilingplate 14 may be provided with one or more apertures therethrough forreceiving screws to fixedly anchor the plate to a ceiling.

The relative longitudinal position of the standard sections 11a and 12is readily changed by adjusting the position of a support pin 17 alongthe length of the standard tively equipped with hooks or projections 22that substan-v tially abut the outer surface of the standard section 11awhen the legs 21 are respectively inserted through the laterally spacedslots 25 provided along the standard section 11a and when the base leg20 of the pin is in substantial engagement with the opposite surface ofthe standard section. It will be apparent that the slots 25 are arrangedin longitudinally spaced pairs and are defined along opposite sides ofthe standard section 11w.-

Therefore, the support pin 17 may be located at preselected positionsalong the length of the section 11a and is constrained in any one ofsuch positions by the engagement of the hooks 22 and base leg 20 withthe respective sides of the standard section.

The spring 18 is of helical construction and seats at the lower endthereof on the support pin 17 and more particularly on the spaced legs21 thereof, and at its upper end the spring 18 seats against a guideplate 26 rigidly secured to the section 12, as by welding 27. The guideplate 26 is preferably of rectangular configuration and is dimensionedso as to be snugly received within the hollow standard section 11a andthereby guides longitudinal movement of the section 12 with respect tothe section 11a. If desired, a notch or recess 28 may be provided in theplate 26 along opposite sides thereof as a fabrication convenience.

In the specific structure shown, the upper standard sec tion 12 iscylindrical and to further guide movement thereof within the polygonalstandard section 11a, a guide member 30 is included in the structuralcomposition adjacent the upper end of the standard section 11a. Theguide member 30 is of inverted, generally U-shaped configuration and hasan upper base or bail portion 31 provided centrally with an opening 32therein which slida'bly passes the upper standard section 12therethrough. Extending downwardly from the base wall or bail 31 are apair of spaced legs 34 which are disposed interiorly of the standardsection 11 intermediate the walls thereof and upper standard section 12.Preferably the legs 34 are resilient and are biased outwardly so as tofrictionally engage the standard section 11a. The base or bail 31 of theguide 30 is also equipped with a pair of laterally extending ears 33adapted to abut the upper edge of the lower standard section 11a, asshownbest in FIGURE 4, so that downward movement of the guide memberrelative to the lower standard section is limited by such abutment. Itwill be apparent that the guide plate 26 and guide member 30 areeffective to maintain the upper standard section 12 in longitudinalalignment with the axis of the lower standard section 1 1a not only whenthe section 12 has a relatively fixed location (disregarding themovement thereof afforded by the helical spring 18), but also duringlongitudinal movements thereof.

For convenience, FIGURE 7 illustrates the arrangement employed forremovably securingthe shelves 10 to the lower standard section 11a andsuch arrangement includes a bracket 40 adapted to be secured to a shelfby any suitable means and which has at one end thereof a pair ofvertically spaced hooks 41 adapted to be respectively inserted into apair of vertically adjacent slots 25 provided along one wall of thelower standard section 11a. In certain arrangements the bracket 40 mayhave two pairs of vertically spaced hooks 41 respectively insertableinto vertically adjacent pairs of laterally spaced slots 25. Since theshelving, brackets, and manner of securing such brackets to the displaystandard comprise no part of this invention per se, a furtherdescription thereof will not be included. However, reference may be madeto my copending patent application, Serial No. 631,214, filed December28, 1956, for a more detailed description thereof.

In use of the display standard 11, the relative positions of thesections 11a and 12 are adjusted and preselected by locating the supportpin 17 at the proper place along the lower support standard 11a. It willbe appreciated that the support pin is readily removed from the pairedslots 25 by lifting the pin upwardly to clear the hooks 22 thereof andthen pulling the pin laterally from the slots. The pin is inserted inanother pair of slots by following the reverse of this procedure. Itwill be evident that such adjusted position of the sections 11a and 12must provide an over-all length for the standard 11 that is greater thanthe ceiling height, or more specifically, than the distance between thefloor and ceiling of the room in which the display standard is to beused. Next, the resilient pad and its plate 14 are placed against theceiling directly in line with the point along the floor at which thebase 13 of the standard is to be located. The lower standard section 11ais then pushed upwardly against the biasing force of the spring 18 untilthe base 13 of the lower standard section clears the floor and may bemoved freely thereabout. When the base '13 is properly located, thelower standard section is released and the spring 18 then resilientlypresses the base 13 against the floor and the pad equipped plate 14against the ceiling and thereby anchors the display standard inposition.

If the display equipment includes more than one of the displaystandards, each such standard is properly positioned in the same mannerand thereafter the shelving, partitions, etc., are respectively securedthereto. However, in certain pieces of display equipment only onestandard 11 is employed and after it has been properly anchored betweenthe floor and ceiling, the desired shelvby shifting the location of thesupport pin 17 along the length of the standard section 11a. If the pinis moved toward the base 13, the spring force will be diminished, andconversely, when the pin is moved toward the upper end of the section11a, the resulting spring force will be increased.

While there has been described what is at present considered to be thepreferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understood thatvarious modifications may be made therein, and it is intended to coverin the appended claim all such modifications as fall within the truespirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

A display standard adapted to be vertically oriented between a floor andceiling of a room, comprising a first tubular standard section ofgenerally rectangular honzontal cross section, a second standard sectionin longitudinal telescopic engagement with said first section forlongitudinal movement relative thereto, one of said standard sectionsadjacent the lower end thereof being adapted to engage the floor and theother of said standard sections adjacent the upper end thereof beingprovided with a laterally extending plate covered with a resilient padfor engagement with the ceiling, guide structure to maintain said secondstandard section in longitudinal alignment with said first standardsection including a rectangular guide plate insertable into said firststandard section and laterally arranged on the lower end of said secondstandard section, a U-shaped guide member receiving said second standardsection therein and disposed away from said guide plate, said guidemember having resilient arms biased to frictionally engage the walls ofsaid first standard section, said first standard section havinglaterally separated openings arranged in pairs and disposed in twoopposed walls thereof at closely spaced aligned longitudinal intervalstherealong, a U-shaped support pin removably mounted in selected opposedpairs of said openings, a pair of legs on said support pin having at thefree end thereof laterally offset projections hooked over the edges ofone pair of said selected openings in one wall of said first standardsection to prevent lateral removal of said pin and a base joining theother end of said pair of legs and abutting an opposite wall of saidfirst standard section from said projections, and a spring in engagementwith said support pin and with said guide plate to resiliently bias saidstandard sections in the longitudinal direction tending to increase theoverall length thereof and enforce frictional engagement of therespective standard sections with such floor and ceiling.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,905,596 Lewis Apr. 25, 1933 2,439,049 Lesko Apr. 6, 1948 2,675,256Cornell Apr. 13, 1954 2,687,874 Newman Aug. 31, 1954 2,704,194 DiamondMar. 15, 1955 2,746,706 Schneider May 22, 1956 2,772,846 Skar Dec. 4,1956 2,850,307 Kindl Sept. 2, 1958 2,903,227 Key Sept. 8, 1959 FOREIGNPATENTS 356,284 Great Britain Sept. 7, 1931 796,701 Great Britain June18, 1958 903,073 France July 28, 1947

